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Drafting For "D"

Posted Jun 27, 2014
by Aaron Portzline
| 0 comments

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen will stick to the cardinal rule of drafting: always take the best available player, regardless of position. Always. In the NFL and NBA, where players are ready to step immediately into the lineup, it might make sense to draft by position. But in the NHL, it's a foolish practice.

"By the time most of these guys are ready -- two or three years, sometimes four or five years -- the picture can totally different," Kekalainen said. "Look at how much rosters change in this league, just from year to year. What you see today is not going to be the situation in just a couple of years."

But NHL teams have to keep an eye on their organizational depth chart, too. And that will be in the back of the Blue Jackets' minds when Kekalainen and Co. walk onto the draft floor in Wells Fargo Center.

The first round of the NHL draft goes off at 7 p.m. tonight. Rounds 2-7 are on Saturday.

The Blue Jackets have drafted only four defensemen in the last three drafts, and one of them - Gianluca Curcuruto - is no longer with the organization. Curcuruto, a seventh-round pick (No. 182 overall) in 2012, was not signed to an entry level contract and, thus, is eligible to be drafted against this weekend.

Ryan Murray, the No. 2 overall pick in 2012, has a very good rookie season for the Blue Jackets in 2013-14.

"It's something we've discussed, yeah," Kekalainen said. "If it comes down to two players that you like equally, maybe we lean that way this year. We're always going to take the player we like the best, but if it's a tie, maybe the tie goes to the defensemen this year."

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad (Barrie, OHL) is expected to go very early tonight, perhaps No. 1 overall to the Florida Panthers -- if the Panthers can't/don't trade the pick.

Last summer, the Blue Jackets spent seven of their eight picks on forwards, including all three first-round picks. With Alex Wennberg, Kerby Rychel, Josh Anderson, Marko Dano and Oliver Bjorkstrand, the Jackets feel like the future is bright at forward.

They may still draft a forward with their first-round pick this year. But all things being equal, it would be ideal to add a defenseman -- even in a draft class that seems less than exciting.

"It's similar to the forwards in this draft," Kekalainen said. "It's not real top-heavy. I guess you could say with Ekblad considered to be going No. 1 overall that it's top-heavy in that respect. But after that it's not like there are three or four great defensemen at the top of the draft. It's not like the years with (Drew) Doughty and (Alex) Pietrangelo in there.

"But there are good defenseman who can come into play maybe later on in the first round and second and third and fourth round. We should still be able to find some good defensemen, even after the first pick."

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